(Day 22 - 1803 Words)
“Your women need beverage? Very well, time to water the greenery!” Shae swung the watering pitcher in an arc emptying it on the two women, and getting a bit in the greenery by the window, too for good measure.
The women screamed in shock and outrage at the impromptu shower. The males were pushing their way up and out of the booth, yelling, as well. And then it turned to silence for the men as the green skin and hair on the women started running down their faces and clothing exposing tanned skin underneath and blond hair. One of the woman’s pointed ears drooped and fell off leaving a standard, rounded ear.
It took a moment for one to notice the other’s predicament and the screaming and cussing was then enhanced by pointing. All three of the Lekthish were up and out of the seats now and staring with horror at the women. It was obvious that they didn’t know that they were dealing with posers.
“What did you throw on the women? Why are they melting? Was it acid?” One of the white-haired ones was speaking Spacer Lingo, just fine now.
“Water, it was just water,” Thom said as he and the two patrolmen who were his buddies came into the diner.
“Looks like you got fished,” a patrolman commented. His nametag said ‘Danwith’, though Shae knew his first name was Mike. He stood 7’8” in his bare feet, so in his combat uniform he was nearly 4 inches taller than that, and far more imposing then the thin Lekthish fellows were.
“What is fished?” the black-haired Lekthish asked. He kept turning to look between the women who were shaking the water off them mostly by dancing and flinging their hands. Both of them had lost their ear tips now and the blonde and green streaked hair was flying around in clumps, spreading more green dye with every shake.
“Fishing is when a man or woman of any race tries to get a rich partner to take them to expensive meals, entertainment and maybe even off the station. Sometimes, they will dress up to look like another race, like these did, so as to have a better chance. But, I guess the jig is up, ladies. Take yourselves outside.” The other patrolman, Shandorman, had one arm out gesturing them towards the door.
“I’d hate to have to arrest you for soliciting without a license,” Mike added.
That got them moving and with squinted, angry looks they headed out the door, which Thom was holding open for them.
“Are you going to leave peaceably, too?” Shandorman looked pointedly at the three aliens. Shandorman was a foot taller than Mike, and twice as wide, being of Samson/Samoan bloodline. The Lekthish seemed to find him as impressive as most people did, and they started to head out.
“Wait,” Shae yelled out. “They haven’t paid, yet. I have their bill here.”
“Have the fish-women pay it,” the black-haired Lekthish said with a sneer that took away any handsomeness that his face might have had.
Thom shut the door to the diner, holding the three males inside. It was three on three now and while the aliens were known to be fast, cunning and stronger than they appeared, the patrolmen were armed and armored giving them a bit of advantage. Thom, though, was just wearing his coveralls, which did have some armor to them, to protect while working on the big ships and machines, it wouldn’t hold up to weapon-fire if it came to that. And maybe not knives or swords, which those aliens often carried.
Shae didn’t know what to do. She had just figured that they would head out once the patrol came in, but she had forgotten about the bill, in her annoyance.
The aliens put hands down towards their waists, their expressions hardening, as they started not only feeling challenged, but cornered. Mike adjusted his stance, as well.
The stand-off was broken by Maricia coming obliviously out of a side door from the bathroom hall.
“Oh, Shae…” was as far as she got before she realized that they weren’t alone.
The aliens saw their opportunity, as well and one of the white-haired Lekthish did a back handspring over a table and grabbed Maricia by an arm. Sliding behind her to use her pregnant body as a shield. The rest were moving, too, the black-haired one pulling an illegal blaster from behind his back and the other white-haired one took the opportunity to flip past Mike and head towards Thom and the door, pulling a wicked looking knife in the same motion.
Shae didn’t think twice, her man was in danger and she threw the now empty pitcher at the back of the alien’s head. She hadn’t been dodgeball champion three years running in secondary school for nothing, and the hardened ferro-plas pitcher connected with his head with a solid thump sending the alien sprawling for at least a moment.
Mike was in a stand-off with the black-haired Lekthish, both pointing their weapons steadily at each other. Shandorman had his weapon steady on the Lekthish holding Maricia hostage. Thom had pulled out his multi-tool that he always carried and had lengthened it to a baton-like wrench. He stepped towards the downed Lekthish, ready to knock him again if he tried to get up.
Shae’s unexpected attack had drawn the attention of the hostage holder for just a second, perhaps loosening his grip slightly and to everyone’s surprise, Maricia dropped straight down to the floor, a nearly dead weight, causing the Lekthish to lose his grip on her. Shandorman didn’t hesitate and put a hole right through the alien’s forehead. The patrol smart bullets were programmed to have various effects in various situations. This one was obviously lethal.
The one in the stand-off with Mike hadn’t moved. Their eyes seemed locked and their hands steady. Shae was afraid to move any more, even to go help Maricia, whose eyes were spilling over in tears.
The one on the floor that Shae had knocked down, and she thought had knocked out, sprang forward using fingers and toes in a crazy move that was more lizard-like than person-like. He tackled Thom’s legs with his shoulders, knocking Thom backwards. Thom brought the wrench down on the alien’s back, as best he could, but being off balance, it was barely a glancing blow.
As the Lekthish rolled away from the downed Thom, he too came up with an illegal blaster. If the beams punched through the exterior plating, it could vacc whole sections of the station. Shae yelled to warn Thom.
“Thom! He has a blaster!”
Shandorman’s head and arm swung around to aim at the Lekthish, but the alien didn’t try to shoot Thom, or even Mike, which is what Shae was expecting. Instead he shot the window that was next to the black-haired Lekthish.
The ferro-plas was meant to stand up to much lesser weapon-power and it blasted out from the force, shattering into safely rounded pieces.
Mike and his foe fired at nearly the same time, even as the black-haired Lekthish dove sideways out the now open window. Mike hadn’t moved, so that the blaster would hit his armor for the most part, and protect Shae who was just a little ways behind him. Melting armor splashed off burning small holes in the floor and nearby tables.
The Lekthish on the floor hadn’t wasted any time and his second shot was fired before his black-haired companion had even finished clearing the window frame. The door frame burst open and more ferro-plas spattered the hallway, this time melting some of the ferro-plas because it was so close. The alien kipped up to his to feet and did some crazy spin, twist, dive, that put him out the door and rolling from a shoulder straight on up to his feet.
Shandorman fired out the open window at both the fleeing aliens, but there were too many people in the halls to safely fire more than once each, and both had managed to keep running, so while they may have been hit, they weren’t down.
Mike was still standing there and Shae came around his side. The front of his armor was sparking and burning. Mike’s face was suffused with pain. Shae pressed the wet towel she had forgotten about in her hand against the burning area to try to snuff it out. Mike’s armor seemed to be locked. Shandorman looked over, he had already called in to HQ about the fleeing aliens and his eyebrows raised in worry. He quickly stepped over the messes and hit a latch on the side of the neck of Mike’s armor. As soon as that popped, the whole armor seemed to unlock and open up. Make fell out into Shadorman’s arms.
His inner suit was burned through, too, though not at badly as the outer, and there were blackened burns on his chest, as well. Shae shuddered at the smell of burnt flesh and at the thought of what it would have done to her if Mike had not taken the blast.
Shae then ran to Maricia who was trying to lever herself up, while holding her belly. The belly was rippling violently, causing her to gasp and double over every few minutes.
“That was smart of you, Maricia,” Shae complimented her, as she was trying to help her to a chair.
“I think the baby’s coming,” Maricia answered.
“You aren’t due for another month!”
“I know.”
“Thom! Are you okay? Maricia might be having the baby.” Shae didn’t know what to do for her friend.
“I’ve called Emergency Services,” Shandorman said. “Mike is going to have to go to the hospital, too.”
Thom had pulled himself from the tangle of chairs that he had been thrown into by the tackle and he hurried over to Shae and Maricia. He looked stricken over at his friends, especially Mike. Shae felt so guilty, it was all her fault.
If she hadn’t pushed the aliens that way, they might have just left and stiffed the bill. But, the damage not only to the diner but to Mike and maybe Maricia, and who knows who else out in the hall was far worse.
The sound of the sirens pulled her from her thoughts and she wiped her tears away quickly, noticing that her hands were reddened and had some small blisters in a few places from putting out the sparks and fire. What would happen? What would they do? Would they lose everything?
ES personnel bustled through the door, robo-gurneys following them along. They started checking Maricia, and sat Mike on one of the gurneys to start diagnostics.
Shae turned to Thom and started crying. He wrapped his arms around her. They had each other.
***